Smoke and Tangerines
by F91
Summary: Certain aromas and a blonde haired cook bring back old memories for Nami. NamiSanji...... ish


Hey all. This is my first try at a One Piece fic, so if you find problems with character representation or anything blame the little men who live inside all electronic devices Any who, I don't own One Piece, Oda and the devil's spawn 4 Kids does x.o

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Smoke and Tangerines

"NAMI-SWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!" Sanji cried cheerfully, walking into the kitchen, heart eyed with a basket of tangerines in his hands.

"Hello Sanji-kun." Nami answered, not looking up from her newspaper.

"I spent all day in the tangerine grove, they are so ripe they're dropping out of the trees. I'll be sure to use them and make you a special meal of love!" Sanji declared.

"Thank you Sanji-kun." Nami replied, turning a page. Sanji went to work on his 'special meal of love', setting out pots and what not. He washed the tangerines peeled them, boiled them, baked them, what ever it was he needed to do. ((AN: I know nothing about cooking x.x)) and soon the kitchen was filled with the lovely sent of cooking food. Luckily for Sanji, the windows were closed, preventing a certain straw hat wearing captain from catching a whiff.

It was soon time to add the most important ingredient: time. Sanji set the pots to simmer or what ever ((AN: Remember, I know as much about cooking as Luffy does about quantum physics)) and took a seat next to Nami.

"It's a wonderful day out, isn't it Nami-san?" Sanji said, trying to strike up a conversation.

"It's going to rain later." Nami said, nonchalantly, turning another page of the newspaper. Sanji raised a curly eyebrow. Nami wasn't acting like herself, normally she would humor him, say something like "It is a wonderful day, isn't it Sanji-kun?" with a rot-your-teeth sweetness in her voice.

"Is something wrong Nami-san?" Sanji asked, genuinely concerned. Nami realized that if she wanted him to shut up, she'd have to act like she was fine. She looked at him and smiled.

"I'm fine Sanji-kun." She assured him, and then went back to her paper. Sanji seemed to buy this answer and started to stare out a window. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a cigarette. He put it in his mouth, struck a match and lit it. ((AN: I also don't know how to describe the smoking process either x.x)) Sanji took a drag and blew smoke into the air. The smoke wafted in the air, combining itself with the scent of this tangerines and this made its way to Nami's nose. Nami inhaled slightly, taking in the smell. This smell added to the reason why she wasn't especially happy today. 'Smoke and tangerines… that was her scent…' Nami shook her head, trying to keep unwanted memories from resurfacing; this didn't go unnoticed by Sanji.

"Nami-san?" He asked. Nami tired to act natural.

"It's nothing Sanji-kun, I just had some hair in my face." Sanji knew she was lying, he had been watching her the whole time, but he didn't press it. 'It's that time of year again… The tangerines are at their ripest and it's time to pick and sell them…She'd…' Nami shook her head mentally this time, but that didn't stop the memories from coming back.

X-X-X

"Alright!" Bellemere cried with glee. "Time to pick some tangerines!"

"Yay!" Tiny Nami and Nojiko cheered. Bellemere was suddenly in sitting in a chair.

"Get to work you two!" she instructed.

"You have to work too!" the young girls shouted at their adoptive mother.

"I'm on my break." She said with a laugh, leaning back.

"How can you be on a break when you haven't done any work?" Nami asked.

"Fine, then I'm not on break, I'm your supervisor!" Bellemere said.

"That's not fair!" Nojiko protested. "You have to help too! Who else is going to get the tangerines on the far up branches?"

"Stand on each other's shoulders." Bellemere said simply.

"We're not going to do that!" they yelled back.

"Now now, get to work, if you don't work, you don't get paid."

"We don't get paid anyways!" Nami shouted. Bellemere sighed.

"Fine fine, if you're not capable of doing it yourself, I guess I have to do it."

"We can do it! We just want some extra help and you need to work. 'If you don't work, you don't get paid'." Nami said, mimicking Bellemere's voice to the best of her abilities.

"I guess I should listen to myself now shouldn't I? Alright! Let's get pickin so I can get paid!" Bellemere exclaimed.

"Hey! We should get paid too!"

X-X-X

Normally Nami would smile at such memories, but lately they've just been followed by the image of her beloved mother's body hitting the ground in a bloody mess and that accursed merman's laugh "Sha hahaha, sha haha!". Some where amidst her reminiscing, Sanji had finished cooking. He put her plate on the table in front of her, the sound of porcelain on wood snapped her back to reality.

"Here you go Nami-san! Egg-rice with tangerine dressing, just for you!" Nami went wide-eyed. She just stared at the dish in front of her. She remembered what Nojiko said on that day. "Bellemere-san is waiting for you, with a delicious dinner prepared! It's most likely your favourite, egg-rice with tangerine dressing!" Nami bit her lip and held tightly onto her paper, crumpling it. She tried desperately to fight back her tears, but she found it no use. The tears started running down her face and she started sobbing.

"Nami-san!" Sanji said with urgency, going to her side. "What's wrong?" She looked up at him, teary eyed. She tired to tell him something, but it didn't come out. Instead she grabbed his shirt and buried her face in it. Sanji was a little shocked but soon his brain started to click in. He recalled the story Nojiko had told him and Usopp. Sanji wrapped his arms around her. "Shhhhh…" Sanji cooed, rubbing her back. "Don't worry Nami-san, Arlong is gone now, you don't have to hold anything in anymore." Nami realized he was right. Arlong Park had fallen, they had made sure of that. She had promised herself she wouldn't cry anymore, but she had already broken that promise several times, but even so, she never had gotten out all the pent up sadness she had because of Bellemere's death, but now she was with some one who obviously cared about her so she just let herself go. So they stayed that way for sometime, and once Nami finally got all that sadness off her chest, she remained in Sanji's arms, enjoying the scent of smoke and tangerines.

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Well there's my first try. I wrote this at about 3 in the morning so I'm a tad tired and out of it x.x I'll probably revise this according to the reviews I get so review please.


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